Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-14

indianapolis will have in a centuryou her
belt road. Cincinnati needs belt road
very badly. The manufacturers there in
many cases pay ont "A small fortune in dray-
ages to and from the railroads. believe
belt road would be- an immense advantage
to Springfield, and would of itself attract
new factories which would locate on it
There may be- good deal in what you
say, said another citizen, but the factu-
ries which are at present located ON the
railroads in Springfield enjoy just about As
good shipping facilities as if they were lo-
Gated on a belt road. Most OF them have
railroad switches and load directly on the
ears. These ears are then switched on la
the road by which they are Ia leave the
citv. | believe the charges for switching
are 5 per car. The belt road would be of
very little advantage 10 the concerns already
planted here. Its principal benefit would
be from the number of new and available
sites il would open foi additional factories
/ First rate manufacturing sites in Spring
field are becoming rarer every day. The
factories cluster along each of the railroad
tracks for a considerable distance from the
center of the city. and IL will soon be i'm
| possible for factory to get good location
{ IN Springfield except by going a mile and a
/ half or 81 from the center of the city \
iei railroad would open up enough manu-
featuring sites to serve for the next century
At present il can be dispensed with very
we'll. but in the event of rush of new
factories To Springfield, il will have To be
built"
Monk sykes, the noted Springfield snake
charmer. stood III the Arcade cigar store the
other day. and lectured on the snake indus
Try in Springfield.
The snakes are beginning Ia come out "
said Monk. Il have caught a good many
this spring already. The best place in
Springfield 10 catch snakes is down on Buck
creek, at point west of Fernclff cemetery.
| Right opposite that big red shed along the
creek, there is big tree lying on its side
, II was uprooied by the storm two or three
/ years ago. and has Il mass OF roots sticking
"ut of the ground. There are lots of
snakes there. Every sunny day they com.
out on the roots and sun themselves They
are mostly water black snakes, and there
are some big ones down there. creep up
to the tree. and when see snake make
a grab for him. As soon a get hold al
/ him. he wriggles and coils around my hand
or runs his head up my sleeve, bu, rarely
bites,
Il have been bitten many times
by black snakes and water snakes.
but | have never felt any bad
effects from the bites. can tame the
snakes good deal. have taken wild
black snakes and kept them for two ol
three days. AT the end of that time
would throw them in the creek and then
stand in the water and make motions like
ha f.lsfa p,Nv tit,ar
OF the water. Every time Mr.. Snake would
follow my finger. and could catch him
again without any trouble.
When | go down to the creek and don't
! find any snakes out. l sit down by the bank
and commence 10 sing in low tone To my
self. Pretty soon the snakes will pop out
their heads to listen. pay no attention.
and after awhile they crawl out of their
holes and lay around listening. Then
make grab for one and the rest glide
away. Springfield snakes won't come for
whistling, like those you read about.
There are some big snakes in the rocks at
Mad river. Some OF EN- are seven or eight
feet long, | know, because I've seen EN-
never caught any Of the big ones. They re
too slick for me, | can tell you. once saw
black snake down IN Snyder's bottoms
which was seven feet long and as thick a. a
mans wrist
when catch snakes don't feed 'em
on anything in particular, but let 'em 90
again in two or three days. rm going up
To Catawba station this summer and catch
some rattlers. Why. Of course. there are
rattle-snakes up there; plenty of 'em. and
| know right where they are. Afraid of
EN-? Not a bit of il. | would not be afraid
to catch 'em and carry 'em round with me